Improvement in pruning-shears



C. LLOYD.

PRUNING-SHEARS.

No. 195,828. Patented oct.z,1s77.

ffy/J UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES LLOYD, OF HARRIETTSVILLE, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT IN PRUNING-SHEARS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 195,828, dated October2, 1877; application led May 5, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES LLOYD, of Harriettsville, in the county ofNoble and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Prtming- Shears; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of referencemarked'thereon, which form part of this specification.

The nature of my invention consists in the novel construction .andarrangement of the shank, curved jaws, and heart-shaped blades in a pairof primingshears, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth anddefinitely claimed.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my inventionappertains to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe itsconstruction and operation, referring tothe annexed drawing,representing side views from opposite sides of the implement.

A A represent the handles of the implement, in the end of one of whichis fastened a shank, B. This shank is extended to form two guards orguides, C G, for holding the limbs to be eut. The inner edges, guides,or jaws 'are curved, as shown, one, C, being larger than the other, O',and a projecting point, a, forms the division between them.

In the end of the other handle A is fastened a shank, E, which is bentslightly inward, and pivoted to the jaw C at a point, b, below and alittle outward from the projection a, as shown.

On the end ofthe shank E is formed the cutting-blade D, made in theshape of heart, with cutting-edges extending from the bottom d at theshank to the top point e on both sides. This blade or cutter will cutwith two edges, requiring less force to operate it than thehedgetrimmers or pruning-shears now generally in use, because it hasmore power by cutting close to the pivot b with a downward cut insteadof the usual side cut.

It will be seen that, when a limb is held in either of the jaws O or C',by bringing the blade toward it to be cut, it is the lower edge oftheblade that mainly severs the limb by cutting downward through it. Suchdownward cut, of course, requires less power than when the cutting isdone sidewise; and by the construction ofthe blade as described a shortleverage is obtained from the pivot to the lower cuttingedges, therebygiving more power to the cutter.

To the outer side of' the blade D, at the top, is fastened, by screws hh, a chisel, H, having its upper cutting edge z' made concave, as shown,which chisel can often be used with advantage quicker and easier thanthe shears. This chisel can easily be removed when desired.

I am aware that pruning-shears with a cutting-blade having twocutting-edges are of themselves not new, and I do therefore not claimsuch, broadly, as being my invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In priming-shears, the combination of the shank B formed with the twocurved jaws O O', the shank E pivoted to the jaw C, and the heart-shapedblade D with double cuttingedges, the parts being so arranged that adownward cut will be made, substantially as herein set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as

